The Hidden Assassins

33

Seville-Thursday, 8th June 2006, 20.15 hrs

The sun was setting on the third day since the explosion. As Falcon drove back into the city his mind reached a static but profound level of concentration focused entirely on Angel Zarrias.

Back in the security guard's apartment he'd become quite angry. He'd torn the police sketch out of his pocket, smoothed it out on the dining-room table and asked the poor guy to show him the similarities. Falcon had been forced to admit a few things: that all old people looked the same, or invisible, to younger people; that Angel was 1.65m and only a little heavier than 75 kilos; that Angel had no facial hair and he did have a side parting and, even if he was a bit thin on top, he used all available hair to make it look as if he was still hanging on to it. Only when the security guard had talked him through the jaw line and nose did Falcon see Angel in the sketch, as an adult finally sees the outline of a face in a cloud, as pointed out by a frustrated child.

Ramirez met him in the car park outside the preschool.

'We found Lucrecio Arenas's house,' said Ramirez. 'It was in the Plaza Mercenarias. I sent Cristina over there to take a look and it was all closed up. The neighbours say they don't spend much time there in the summer and there's no garden, only an internal patio. They didn't recognize Tateb Hassani either.'

They went into the classroom at the back where Juez del Rey and Comisario Elvira were waiting. Eight hours' sleep in three days was ruining Elvira. They sat down. They were all exhausted. Even del Rey, who should have been fresh, looked rumpled, as if he'd been jostled by a disgruntled crowd.

'Good news or bad?' asked Elvira.

'Both,' said Falcon. 'The good news is that I've identified the man seen speaking to Ricardo Gamero in the Archaeological Museum in the hours before he killed himself.'

'Name?'

'Angel Zarrias.'

Silence, as if they'd all seen someone sustain an ugly blow.

'He's your sister's partner, isn't he?' said Ramirez.

'How did you identify him?' asked Elvira.

Falcon briefed them on his conversation outside the Taberna Coloniales and how he'd extracted the Horizonte/Banco Omni executive photograph from Angel.

'But that's only part of the bad news,' said Falcon. 'The other part is that I'm not sure whether this gets us any further down the chain.'

'Meaning?'

'What have we found out that will help us apply pressure on Zarrias to reveal more?' said Ramirez.

'Exactly,' said Falcon. 'He was the last person to speak to Ricardo Gamero, but so what? He knew Gamero from church and that's the end of it. Why did he go to Zarrias and not his priest? His priest is dead. What did they talk about? Gamero was very upset. What about? Maybe Zarrias will give the same answer that Marco Barreda gave me. Perhaps Zarrias told Barreda to tell me that Gamero had been a closet gay. We don't know enough to be able to crack him open.'

'I can't believe that Ricardo Gamero would go to Angel Zarrias at that particular moment to discuss emotional problems,' said del Rey.

'You could show Zarrias the shot of Tateb Hassani and see what reaction you get,' said Elvira.

Neither Elvira nor del Rey had heard from Pablo, so Falcon told them about Tateb Hassani and how his handwriting matched that of the documents found in the fireproof box from the mosque and the notes found in the two copies of the Koran.

'And why did you ask for that comparison to be made in the first place?' asked Elvira.

'It went back to a question I asked my officers when we first discovered the dead body on the rubbish dump: Why kill a man and take such drastic steps to destroy his identity? You would only do that because knowledge of the victim's identity would lead investigators to people known to the victim, or because knowledge of his expertise might jeopardize a future operation. Tateb Hassani's identity revealed a number of things. His expertise, as a professor of Arabic Studies, meant that he could write Arabic and would have a sound knowledge of the Koran. He had also given maths classes in Granada during the summer months and therefore spoke and wrote Spanish. His profile was not that of an Islamic militant-he was an apostate, a sexual predator and a drinker of alcohol. Once he lost his job at Columbia University, which had cost him his New York apartment, he became so desperate for money that he'd taught maths privately in Columbus, Ohio, which was the home of I4IT, who own Horizonte, who in turn own Informaticalidad. Finally, I was not comfortable with the fact that the keys found in the Imam's apartment, which successfully opened the fireproof box from the mosque, had been discovered in the kitchen drawer and not in the Imam's desk with his other keys. This struck me as a plant by someone who had access to the Imam's apartment, but not his study when he wasn't there.'

'Who would have planted the keys?'

'Botin, under instructions from Gamero?' said Ramirez.

'At the beginning of this investigation Juan was telling us to keep an open mind and not to look at this attack historically, because there is no pattern in the way Islamic terrorists work. That's true. That's their style. Each attack comes out of the blue and there's always some new twist that teases greater terror into the mind of the West. Just think about the virtuosity of the attacks experienced so far.

'When I was driving back from the security guard's apartment, something that struck me about the Seville bombing was its lack of originality. Of course, that wasn't my first thought. My first thought was: these terrorists are prepared to attack residential property. But now I'm beginning to see that the Seville bomb refers back to some element in those previous attacks. The collapse of the apartment building reminded us of the Moscow apartment blocks coming down in 1999. The discovery of the Islamic sash, the hood and the Koran in the Peugeot Partner reminded us of the Koran tapes and detonators found in the Renault Kangoo outside the station at Alcala de Henares. The use of Goma 2 Eco in the device planted in the mosque reminded us of the explosive used on 11th March. The threat to the two schools and the biology faculty was reminiscent of Beslan. It was as if the person who planned this operation was drawing inspiration from something in those previous attacks.'

'VOMIT,' said Ramirez. 'If there's anybody who knows everything there is to know about Islamic terrorist attacks, it's the author of that website.'

'And now that the security guard has pointed the finger at Angel Zarrias there's a logic to it. He's a journalist, but he's also a PR man. He knows how things work in the human mind,' said Falcon. 'I'm now asking myself: who leaked the Arabic script found in the fireproof box to Canal Sur? Or rather, who didn't have to leak it, because it was already in their possession? And who planted the stories about the MILA? Who sent the Abdullah Azzam text to the ABC in Madrid from Seville?'

'How far do you think this goes?' said Elvira. 'If they planted the Korans, the hood and the sash, was it because they knew about the hexogen?'

'I don't think so,' said Falcon. 'I think the idea was conceived as just an attack against the mosque and the people in it. They were getting information from Miguel Botin, via Ricardo Gamero, that something was happening. The CGI had been frustrated in their first attempt to get a bugging order. Gamero found another way, or rather, another way was revealed to him by Zarrias, which was that the mosque could be put under surveillance by Informaticalidad's sales reps. Once it appeared that Hammad and Saoudi were making sinister preparations they decided to kill them, and anybody else unfortunate enough to be in the mosque at the time, before they could carry out the attack they were planning.

'The decision was made. The surveillance terminated. The apartment on Calle Los Romeros rented out again. Meanwhile the fake council inspectors went into the mosque, laid a small device that would blow the fuse box, which would give the electricians access. Miguel Botin was given the electrician's card and told to make it available to the Imam. It's quite possible that Botin wasn't part of the conspiracy and that he was told by Gamero that they had now been granted a bugging order and these electricians were going to position the microphone so that the CGI could carry out their surveillance. Botin was there to ensure that the Imam made the call to the right electricians. The Goma 2 Eco bomb was planted, along with the fireproof box. The design of the attack was to make it look like a bomb had gone off in the preparatory stage. Everybody would be killed and the ultimate, atrocious aim of the plot that was supposedly being planned would be found in the fireproof box.

'They knew that Hammad and Saoudi were up to no good, but what I don't believe they realized was just how powerful the explosive was that they were storing in the mosque. The detonation of 100 kilos of hexogen and the complete destruction of the apartment building and the damage to the pre-school were not part of the plan. And that was why Ricardo Gamero killed himself. Not just because his friend and source had been killed, but also because he felt responsible for all the deaths.'

'Well, that returns the logic to the scenario,' said Elvira. 'But first of all, I can't see Angel Zarrias as the sole perpetrator and mastermind of this conspiracy. And secondly, I don't know how the hell you set about proving any of it so that it can stand up in a court of law.'

'The problem is that, if this scenario is the correct one, I cannot go to Angel Zarrias and reveal my hand, because the only cards I've got are the fact that I know he was the last person to speak to Gamero, face to face, and the shock value of having identified Tateb Hassani.'

'You have to find the next link in the chain after Angel Zarrias,' said del Rey. 'He's a journalist and a PR man. What are his PR connections?'

'That's how I got to him in the first place,' said Falcon. 'I was sure that the people from Informaticalidad couldn't be operating on their own. I assumed they would be getting orders from their parent company. I looked at Horizonte, and that's where I came across their bankers: Banco Omni. And…'

'And?'

'Jesus Alarcon used to work for Banco Omni,' said Falcon, more things occurring to him. 'He was put forward as a political candidate by Angel Zarrias's old friend, the Chief Executive of Banco Omni, Lucrecio Arenas.'

'Political candidate for what?' asked del Rey.

'He's the new leader of Fuerza Andalucia.'

'But Fuerza Andalucia are nowhere in regional politics,' said Elvira. 'They poll 4 per cent of the vote, if they're lucky.'

'After Jesus Alarcon appeared with Fernando Alanis on television today they polled 14 per cent,' said Falcon. 'Zarrias was very excited about it. He calls the PR work he does for Fuerza Andalucia his hobby, but I think it's bigger than that. He's looking for a share of power with the Partido Popular because, for once in his political life, he wants to have the strength to change things. I think he's trying to manoeuvre Jesus Alarcon into a position where he can challenge for the leadership of the Partido Popular. I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that he is to Jesus Alarcon what Karl Rove was to George Bush.'

'So who is the next link in the chain?' asked del Rey.

'Tateb Hassani was staying somewhere while he was being put to work and it was there that he was probably killed,' said Falcon. 'I had assumed it would be in a house near where he was dumped. The bins were in a cul-de-sac on a quiet street, and that implied knowledge. That knowledge, I realize, came from Zarrias, who lives nearby, on the Plaza Cristo de Burgos. I'm now thinking that the house where Tateb Hassani was probably staying was the headquarters of Fuerza Andalucia, which belongs to Eduardo Rivero on Calle Castelar.'

'Does it have a garden?' asked Ramirez. 'With a hedge?'

'There is some sort of formal garden between the front of the house, where Rivero has the office, and the back part, which is the family home. I went there once with Angel and Manuela for a party, but it was in the dark and I wasn't looking at hedges. What we need now is a sighting of Tateb Hassani going into that house, which will give us our next link in the chain.'

'What about Angel Zarrias?' asked Ramirez. 'Do you think it's worth putting him under twenty-four-hour surveillance?'

'I think it would be, especially as it might not be for long,' said Falcon. 'But there is something else which bothers me about all this, and that is the killing.'

'Tateb Hassani was poisoned with cyanide,' said Ramirez. 'It's not like stabbing, shooting, or strangling.'

'First of all, how did they get hold of cyanide?' asked Falcon. 'And then there was the disfigurement. The clean amputation of the hands. I'm thinking there must be a doctor or surgeon involved in all this.'

'And what about the bomb?' said Ramirez. 'It takes real criminal ruthlessness to do something like that.' Falcon called Angel Zarrias to arrange a meeting with Comisario Elvira to talk about reviving the image of the investigative team. They'd agreed to profess an interest in Zarrias's PR talents. It would also bring Zarrias to them so that Serrano and Baena could start the first shift of the surveillance.

It was too risky for Falcon to be seen in Calle Castelar near Eduardo Rivero's house where he might be recognized. The work of placing Tateb Hassani in Rivero's household fell to Ferrera, Perez and Ramirez.

Elvira, del Rey and Falcon waited in the pre-school for Angel to turn up.

'You're not happy, Javier,' said Elvira. 'Are you concerned about how this will affect your relationship with your sister?'

'No. That does concern me, but it's not that,' said Falcon. 'What I'm thinking about now is that, if my scenario proves to be the correct one, it still doesn't explain why Hammad and Saoudi brought 100 kilos of hexogen to Seville.'

'That's the CNI's job, not yours,' said Elvira.

'What scares me is that if you did want to bring Andalucia back into the Islamic fold, without an army or navy, then your best chance of achieving that would be with a Beslan-type siege,' said Falcon. 'I thought at the time that the Russian special forces probably started that firefight because Putin could see how impossible the situation was becoming. He had to act before the global media circus made it an intense, emotional focal point. Once that happened he could only see himself making concessions. Putin's reputation is built on strength and toughness. He couldn't allow a bunch of terrorists to make him look weak. So he met their ruthlessness with his own and more than three hundred people died. If a similar situation happened here, with children taken hostage just at the moment when they should be going on holiday, can you imagine the reaction in Spain, Europe and the world? Putin-style ruthlessness would not be acceptable.'

'Steps have been taken,' said Elvira. 'We can't go through all the schools in Andalucia in the same way that we've gone through the three buildings here in Seville, but we've told them to search their premises and we've got the local police involved, too.'

'You've also told us that you believe the idea of MILA involvement to be a media invention of Zarrias,' said del Rey. 'So we have no real idea what the Islamic terrorists' original intention was.'

'But why bring powerful explosive to Seville, the capital of Andalucia?' said Falcon. 'There's an unnerving brilliance to the idea of the MILA launching a ruthless attempt to bring Andalucia back into the Islamic fold. It's as if the fiction and the truth could easily meet. Have we had any results from the DNA sampling? Are we certain that Hammad and Saoudi died in the mosque? Do we know yet whether they deviated from their route between the safe house in Valmojado and Seville?'

'The forensics have been told to contact me as soon as they've had confirmation, but I doubt that will be today,' said Elvira. 'We haven't heard anything more from the Guardia Civil about the route of the Peugeot Partner. Don't try to overthink this situation, Javier. Just concentrate on your task.'

Angel Zarrias arrived at 9 p.m. Falcon made the introductions and left them to it. He went over to the forensics tent. They were working under lights on the bombsite, which was almost flat. The crane had gone, as had the diggers. Only one tipper was waiting to remove any further rubble. Falcon changed into a boiler suit and went into the tent, which was bright with halogen light. He found the chief of the forensics hovering over a vast array of rags, bits of shoe, plastic, strips of leather. He introduced himself again.

'I'm looking for anything that could be construed as an instruction for making and placing bombs,' said Falcon.

'Something more than what we've already found in the fireproof box?'

'Detail about the bomb making is what I'm after,' said Falcon. 'It might have been sewn into a jacket lining or in a wallet.'

'We've still got plenty of work to do to get into the mosque. We got to the fireproof box early, because it happened to have been blown upwards in the blast,' he said. 'We're working our way downwards now, but it's piece-by-piece work, with everything having to be documented as we go. Tomorrow morning will be the earliest that we'll get into the main body of the mosque.'

'I just wanted you to know that we're still looking for another piece in the jigsaw,' said Falcon. 'It could be in code, numbers or Arabic script.'

There were ten people working outside under the lights. It was similar to an archaeological dig, with a plan of the mosque under a reference grid on a table where each find was logged. The forensics were barely thirty centimetres below ground level. The stink of putrefaction was still heavy in the warm air. They worked in silence and low murmurs. It was hard, gruesome work. Falcon put a call through to Mark Flowers and asked for a meeting.

'Sure, where are you?'

'I'm at the bombsite now but I was thinking a good place to meet would be the apartment of Imam Abdelkrim Benaboura,' said Falcon. 'You know where that is, don't you, Mark?'

Flowers didn't respond to the sarcasm. Falcon walked to the Imam's apartment, which was in a block nearby, similar to the one that had been destroyed. There was a permanent police guard on the door. Falcon showed his ID and the guard said that he did not have the authority to allow him to enter.

'You know who I am?' said Falcon.

'Yes, Inspector Jefe, but you're not on my list.'

'Can I see your list?'

'Sorry, sir. That's classified.' The guard's mobile rang and he took the call, listening intently.

'He's already here,' he said, and hung up.

He unlocked the door and let Falcon in.

The CNI men had not been exaggerating about the quantity of books in the apartment. The living and dining rooms were lined with books, and the bedroom floors were stacked with them. They covered all areas of human knowledge and were mostly in French and English, although there was a whole room given over to Arabic texts. The back room should have been the master bedroom but was the Imam's study, with just a single bed at one end and his desk at the other. The walls were covered in books. Falcon sat at the desk in a wooden swivel chair. He looked through the drawers, which were empty. He swivelled in the chair and reached for a book on the nearest shelf. It was called Riemann's Zeta Function. He put it back without troubling to open it.

'He'd read them all,' said Flowers, standing at the door. 'Pretty amazing to think of all this knowledge in one guy's head. We had a few people in Langley with this kind of reading behind them, but not many.'

'How long had you known him?' said Falcon.

'Assuming that he's dead.'

'I'm sure he's dead,' said Flowers. 'We met in Afghanistan in 1982. He was a kid then, but he was one of the few mujahedeen who spoke English, because, although he was born in Algeria, he went to school in Egypt. We were supplying them with weapons and tactics to fight the Russians. He appreciated what we did for them; helping to keep those atheistic communists out of the land of Allah. As you know, not many of the others did. Isn't there a saying about helping people being the quickest road to resentment?'

'And you kept in touch all this time?'

'There have been breaks, as you'd expect. I lost track of him in the 1990s and then we resumed contact in 2002. I dug him out on one of my foraging trips to Tunis. He never bought into the Taliban and all that Wahhabi stuff. As you probably gathered, he was a bright guy and he couldn't find an interpretation of any line of the Koran that approved of suicide bombing. He was one of them, but he saw things very clearly.'

'And you didn't think to tell one of your new spies, who was investigating-'

'Hey, look, Javier, you had the information from day one. Juan told you he didn't have clearance for his history and that the Americans had vouched for him on his visa application. What more do you want? His CV? Don't expect to be spoon-fed in this game,' said Flowers. 'I can't have it released into the public domain that I was running an Imam as a spy in a local mosque in Seville.'

'And that's why we didn't get in here,' said Falcon, 'and why we didn't get access to his phone records?'

'I had to make sure the place was clear of anything that might implicate him in CIA work. That meant going through all these books,' said Flowers. 'And I'm not irresponsible. I made sure the CNI checked out the electrician's number.'

'All right, I accept that. I should have been a bit more…aware,' said Falcon. 'Did Benaboura tell you about Hammad and Saoudi?'

'No, he didn't.'

'That must have hurt.'

'You don't understand the pressure on these people,' said Flowers. 'He gave me plenty of useful information, names, movements, all sorts of stuff, but he didn't tell me about Hammad and Saoudi because he couldn't.'

'You mean he couldn't risk telling you about them, and you then acting on the information, with the result that all fingers would be pointing at Abdelkrim Benaboura?'

'You're learning, Javier.'

'Did he know about Miguel Botin?'

'Benaboura was an experienced guy.'

'I see,' said Falcon, thinking that through. 'So he decided that Miguel Botin was an acceptable route for the information about Hammad and Saoudi to come out, which was why he used the electricians Botin put forward.'

'He read that situation very clearly. He understood why the fake council inspectors came in, he appreciated the fuse box blowing and the "right" electrician being put in his hand,' said Flowers. 'What he didn't expect was for the electricians to plant a bomb, as well as a microphone.'

'There was a microphone?'

'Of course, he had to find out where it was so that he could have his conversations there,' said Flowers. 'They put it in the plug socket in his office.'

'I wonder if that was in use and who was listening to it?' said Falcon. 'What did the CNI have to say about it?'

'It was supposed to be the CGI who planted it,' said Flowers. 'Botin was working for Gamero, who was with the CGI, and I never spoke to them about it because I was told that there was a security problem in their ranks.'

'What about the extra socket Benaboura had installed in the storeroom?'

'That was probably a request from Hammad and Saoudi,' said Flowers. 'He never spoke to me about it.'

'So you didn't know about the hexogen either?'

'It would have all come out when Benaboura was ready for it to come out.'

'Did he pick up on the surveillance?'

'In the apartment across the street?' said Flowers. 'He was so amazed at how unprofessional it was he'd begun to think it wasn't surveillance.'

'Did you talk to somebody about that on his behalf?'

'I asked Juan and he said it wasn't anything to do with them and he nosed around the CGI for me and said they weren't involved either. I had a look in the apartment myself one evening and it was empty. No equipment. I didn't bother with it any more after that.'

'You're uncharacteristically allowing me to ask a lot of questions.'

'It's all old news.'

'You don't seem bothered by the fact that Botin's electricians put a bomb in the mosque.'

'Oh, I'm bothered, Javier. I'm very bothered by that. I've lost one of my best agents.'

'Do you buy the CNI's story?'

'That Botin was a double?' said Flowers. 'That the Islamic terrorists he was working for knew about Benaboura and wanted to get rid of him?'

'And Hammad and Saoudi.'

'That's bullshit,' said Flowers, bitterly. 'But I'm not thinking about that now. It's your job to rummage in the past.'

'Now you're thinking: what were Hammad and Saoudi going to do with 100 kilos of hexogen in Seville?'

'The GICM are not interested in returning Andalucia to the Islamic fold,' said Flowers. 'Their priority is to make Morocco an Islamic state, under Sharia law, but they do hold the same feelings about the West as those people we call al-Qaeda.'

'Is it certain that Hammad and Saoudi were GICM?'

'They've worked for them before.'

'So what was the hexogen going to be used for?'

'And was there more of it elsewhere?' asked Flowers. 'Those are the big unanswerable questions. It was probably still in its raw form when it exploded. We can only hope for more clues when we get into the mosque.'

'What would have had to be done to it to make it usable?'

'Normally they'd have mixed it with some plastique so that it could be moulded. The best clue would be to find what they were going to pack it into. The hardware.'

'But if you wanted to destroy a building, you could just stick it all in a suitcase, put it in the boot of a car and drive it through the entrance?'

'That's correct.'

'Do you know what the CNI are working on?' asked Falcon, realizing now that his conversation with Flowers was no longer evolving.

'You'd have to ask them,' said Flowers. 'But my advice to you is to do what you're paid to do, Javier. Stick to the past.'

Falcon's mobile vibrated. It was Ramirez. He took the call in the kitchen, well away from Flowers.

'We can confirm a sighting of Tateb Hassani in Rivero's house,' said Ramirez. 'We weren't having any luck on the outside, but Cristina spotted a woman coming out of the house who happened to be the maid looking after Hassani's room. She first saw him on 29th May and last saw him on 2nd June. She didn't work weekends, none of the maids in the main house do. She's not absolutely certain, but she doesn't think he left the house the entire time he was there. He worked in the Fuerza Andalucia offices at the front of the building and took most of his meals over there.'

'What news about Angel Zarrias?'

'That's why I'm calling. He's just arrived at Rivero's house about five minutes after Jesus Alarcon turned up. They're all here. It must be a Fuerza Andalucia strategy meeting.'

'Tell Cristina she has to find someone who was working at Rivero's house on Saturday evening. There must have been some kind of dinner for Tateb Hassani, which means cooks, serving staff, those kinds of people.'